Maine Department of Transportation wants to designate Church Street in Livermore as a state aid highway, making the town responsible for winter maintenance. Church Street, also part of Route 108 connects with Route 4. The town library, community center and the Livermore United Methodist Church are on the road. Google maps screenshot
LIVERMORE — A conference call was held at the selectpersons meeting Tuesday, March 2, with Peter Coughlan, director of the Maine Department of Transportation’s community services division, regarding Church Street.
Coughlan sent Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller a letter in February concerning the road’s classification as a major collector/state highway. The 0.4 mile road is also State Route 108 and connects with State Route 4. Coughlan’s letter indicates the designation of Church Street should be changed to a state aid highway.
“In comparing the functionality of this road against Federal guidelines and State Rule 17-229-304, this road certainly appears to be functioning as a collector/state aid road,” the letter reads. “Traffic counts are relatively low too. In other words, it does not function in a similar manner to nearby arterial State Highways of Route 4 or 108 to the north.”
If changed, the town would be responsible for winter maintenance and DOT would retain all other duties, the letter continues.
According to information provided, to be designated a state highway, a road must serve functionally as an arterial highway, carry relatively high existing traffic volume and connect or serve a facility of unique importance to the State. Also, state highway spurs are to be designated only in unique circumstances.
Designation of a road as a state highway, state aid highway or town way defines who maintains what, Coughlan said. State highways are maintained by DOT, state aid highways are plowed by municipalities with other work going to the DOT, and town ways are maintained by the town, he said.
Church Street isn’t the same as Route 4, shouldn’t be classified at that level, Coughlan said.
“I get what you’re saying,” Selectperson Chair Mark Chretien said. “The problem is our guys have 3.5 hours to do the routes right now and they can’t handle any more.
“We plow double if not triple to do (Route) 108 and the Crash Road,” he continued. “We get more call outs on 108 and the Crash Road than any of our town roads. It’s just an overburden, we don’t have the resources.”
The criteria says nothing about adding a burden, Coughlan said. There are plenty of other towns with roads like Church Street they’ve maintained for decades, he noted.
Church Street used to be the main connection through Canton over to Route 4, Coughlan said. When another connector was built decades ago, both were considered state highways, he said.
“If done again today, Church Street would have become a state aid road,” he said.
When asked how much Local Road Assistance Program funds would increase, Coughlan said the state provides $1,200 per mile. Changing Church Street to a state aid highway would mean a $300 increase for the town, he said.
“That wouldn’t even cover the sand and salt,” Chretien said.
Church St. averages under 1,000 vehicles per day based on annual average daily traffic (AADT) studies, Coughlan said.
He didn’t have information available for when the last traffic study on Church Street had been done.
Chretien spoke of AADT studies done at the corner of Route 4 and Boothby Road/Route 108.
A traffic study done by the Norlands Road would be more accurate as a lot of traffic goes up over Waters Hill and cuts across to avoid Route 108, he said.
“If they’re taking shortcuts across our roads, your counts aren’t even going to be close,” Chretien said. “I’m just asking to do it in a more accurate place. I know what we spend for time on 108.”
Coughlan said Boothby Road would not be made an arterial road, nor does he know why 108 is a state aid road.
Coughlan indicated he would consider a new traffic count if provided a map with the area to be studied. He will be contacting the MDOT Region 3 office in Wilton for input regarding Church St. and asked the board to get back to him by the end of the month.
Other business
In other business, selectpersons were told an adjusted amount due of $3,615 was received last week from the Internal Revenue Service because a payment had not been applied correctly.
“That represents what they say is owed for the first quarter of 2020,” Administrative Assistant Aaron Miller said. “What happened was the Jan. 16 payment was applied to the first quarter of 2019 instead of 2020. Because of that, it throws off our tax deposits for 2020.”
Miller said treasurer Mary Castonguay spoke with the IRS Friday. A six-week hold was put on the account to give time to straighten it out, reconcile it on the town’s end and make sure the same things are being seen by both parties, he said.
The IRS wants a payment, Miller said. If not, interest will continue to accrue, he noted.
“The IRS hasn’t received quarters two and three for 2020,” Miller said. From the agent spoken with, COVID-19 has put everybody behind the works, so that’s a possibility, he noted.
In October, it was voted to pay the Internal Revenue Service almost $5,871 in federal employer’s taxes, penalties and interest owed from 2019.
In November, then treasurer Amy Byron said the deposit dates were off for quarters one and four. One was because of technology issues, the other because she was out sick, she said then.
Byron resigned later that month and the board appointed Deputy Treasurer Mary Castonguay as treasurer.
“I talked with the IRS agent about what he’s seeing on his end,” Miller said. “Mary’s been right on the spot, every two weeks he’s seeing those payments come in.
“We’re unclear at this point if we’ll see any further penalties and interest for the 2020 year,” he said. The town could seek an abatement, but Miller said usually only one is given.
The total of penalties and interest for 2019 and 2020 was $4,919, Miller noted.
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